Helene

Are these our only options?

Thank you for posting, Ray. You summed up my feelings on "Petite Mort."

Houston isn't a neoclassical company like NYCB. NYCB probably takes more of its dancers from SAB, at least now that they're not raiding RDB, than Houston does its school, but most of the Houston Ballet dancers, even the Principals and various levels of Soloists are mainly from the US or are US-trained, mostly finished at minimum at the Ben Stevenson Academy. SFB has a lot of SFB School-trained dancers in the company, but at the Principal and Soloist ranks, the majority of the dancers are from Europe, Brazil, and Cuba, like at ABT, counting Russia as Europe. When I saw them about five years ago, I noticed that they have a lot of very tall men in the corps. I don't know where they grow them. I fell in love with Melanie Mennite's dancing; happily, Olivier Wevers brought her to Seattle to dance with Whim W'him in a work by Isabelle Ochoa. It's very much a home-grown and developed company. Between Stevenson and Stanton Welch, it's had an Artistic Director/choreographer at its head for a long time. There are some gorgeous dancers in the Company. Sixteen dancers, mostly Principals and varieties of Soloist, were seen in a collaboration with Lang Lang in Paris last November to music by Chopin and choreography by Welch. The broadcast on medici.tv was geo-blocked, but here is a link to a short description and list of dancers: http://www.medici.tv/#!/lang-lang-dance-project (If you have VPN software that assigns an IP address from France, you should be able to watch it on demand.) We hope you'll report on whatever you see Plisskin! It's a major company that many of us at BA! never or rarely see. You're also in a fantastic city for opera, one of the best in North America. (Houston Grand Opera is performing "A Little Night Music" in March, three performances of a world premiere by Ricky Ian Gordon, called "A Coffin in Egypt," a one-woman show written especially for Frederica von Stade, also in March, "Das Rheingold" in April, and "Carmen" in May.)

Hopefully, as one of the major arts institutions in the area, they will have strong political backing in their negotiations.

It's official: the Francia Russell Center building will be destroyed to accommodate light rail, but not for a couple of years. Next steps are based on what compensation PNB will get. http://www.bellevuereporter.com/news/2453891.html

It earned her a promotion.

Oops:

Ismene Brown has published a translation of a transcript of a very long interview with Tsiskaridze on his new job and other subjects: http://www.ismeneb.com/Blog/Entries/2014/2/5_Tsiskaridze__Diaghilev_started_showbiz%2C_hes_no_role_model.html

This is a video from the last production in 2010, in which Nakamura, Korbes, and imler talk about the role of Aurora, and there's also footage of Mara Vinson. Only Nakamura performed the role in the this run, but the footage of Imler shows part of why she's such a great Lilac Fairy.

I heard earlier that the free tickets for the finish line in the stadium went quickly.

I remember the show they put on -- live and remote -- for the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics, during the transition to Russia. If that was just a taste, we're in for a treat.

https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/posts/10152013332648952:0?stream_ref=5 Today's the parade, and if the weather in Seattle is anything like the weather in Vancouver, it should be a cold, but great day.

Lesley Rausch in the Act III variation:

I thought it was interesting that I received a "Thanks for coming to "Sleeping Beauty" email, and here's a discount code for "A Midsummer Night's Dream," when there's another rep, "Director's Choice" in the middle. Peter Boal said in a Q&A after "Kylian + Pite" that the November rep was for the people who wouldn't see "Nutcracker.' Or "Sleeping Beauty," I guess, because there seems to be an assumption that if I liked "Sleeping Beauty," I wouldn't be interested in "TAKE FIVE...more or less," "Kiss," "Heart of Darkness," or the new Cerrudo. (Well, they'd be right about the Stroman.)

[Admin beanie on] Some housekeeping: The company forums are for members to describe what we see. Professional reviews are linked in the daily Links threads, and if there are discussion points around them, the place to discuss them is in the "Writings on Ballet" forum. [Admin beanie off]

I just saw a full page ad for Town Hall, Seattle with its upcoming schedule. Peter Boal will interview Jenifer Ringer on Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30pm. Admission is $5. I hope people go and post about it!

One of PNB's finest dancers fought a similar battle, and now he's doing this: https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/photos/a.439537898951.224264.21358443951/10152008956658952/?type=1&stream_ref=10 To many decades of continued good health to both of them!

The first post in celebration on my Facebook feed is from PNB: https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/photos/a.439537898951.224264.21358443951/10152011193208952/?type=1&stream_ref=10 I'm sure we'll find many more today.